I am the champion of the Kosmos!

I come to chess.com for chess, not politics. I am a political activist, but I confine my political activities to the streets and to the huge progressive blog dailyKos. So it was somewhat surprising what I found that the blog was going to hold its own chess championship. Not only that, but many of the games were scheduled to take place at my favorite chess site.

I was also attracted to the event because I he knew some of the players behind the handles and have great respect for them. I figured it would all come down to the last few rounds and I was right. I managed to win all my games except for one draw with Psifighter37, a former national Scholastic champion I know very well. In that game I have the black pieces and chose a safe and solid approach.

I treated all the games seriously and used my first line openings. The time limit of 30 minutes per player per game suits me well in my advancing age. I can't keep up with the youngsters when it comes to speed chess.

Some of the games prove to be interesting. I have chosen three of them for presentation, two of them with notes and one which just followed the pterodactyl strategy to perfection and needs no explanation.

I have won state titles in Illinois, Hawaii, and California but being master of the Kosmos gives a special pleasure. Of course it doesn't prove that my political ideas are correct, but it also shows that at least my mind is at a level above the birthers and deathers. by the way, I did spend a good part of the day at Representative Jackie Speier's town Hall on health care.